Yikes: 9-foot alligator climbs to 2nd-story porch of Lowcountry home

The gator who broke into a family’s porch in Charleston

Steve Polston and his family thought someone was breaking into their house in the Mount Pleasant area of Charleston but discovered a nine foot alligator had climbed onto their porch. This GoPro video was filmed by a South Carolina DNR contractor.
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Steve Polston and his family thought someone was breaking into their house in the Mount Pleasant area of Charleston but discovered a nine foot alligator had climbed onto their porch. This GoPro video was filmed by a South Carolina DNR contractor.
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It’s that time of the year again in the Lowcountry when alligators are found scrambling in strange places and scaring the heck out of residents in the process.

It happened again in the early hours of Easter. A Mount Pleasant family woke up to a terrifying Easter surprise: An alligator crawling on their second-story porch.

According to WCBD, Steve Polston came upon a 9-foot alligator that had busted through a screen door and moved furniture around the porch. The animal climbed a 15-foot staircase to get to the porch.

The family called DNR and an official had to euthanize the alligator because it could not be moved, according to the Post and Courier.

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State law used to require alligators that were trapped after being a nuisance to be killed, but that law has changed, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources biologist Jay Butfiloski, recently told the Island Packet.

“We have changed our protocol in recent years so that not all nuisance alligators are killed,” he said in a previous interview. “In some cases, relocation would be allowed with certain conditions. A lot would depend on location as well as the animal’s behavior.”

South Carolina alligators move more in the springtime, as they make their way into warmer waters after hibernating during the winter and their movement patterns change as it gets closer to mating season. Last year, an alligator rang a doorbell, and one really big guy fell asleep on a porch.

An alligator swam around for a bunch of spectators in a pond off of No. 10 during the final round of the RBC Heritage presented by Boeing on Sunday, April 16, 2017, at Harbour Town Golf Links in Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

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A horse at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Florida attacks an unassuming alligator as visitors watch.

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Alligators responded to the warm spring weather and made appearances earlier than normal in 2016 along Myrtle Beach and other SC waterways, according to state wildlife officials.

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Prime time for alligator activity in the Lowcountry starts in late April, and runs through early July, gator expert Joe Maffo told us March 20, 2017. The prehistoric creatures will start coming out in mid-April. Around lagoons and ponds, what do w

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Shatrina Green of Conway, SC, called the police, who then called the SC Department of Natural Resources, as soon as she saw an 8-foot alligator on her front porch the evening of May 8. She named the alligator Alex Bobby after finding out it had li

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Correction: A previous version of this story said all alligators that were trapped after being a nuisance. The law has recently changed.